I'm coming to the stunning conclusion that I've become politicized.  For a long time, I payed attention to candidate/party positions and voted.  When the election passed I pretty much went back into a state of semi-apathy.

Slowly, beginning with the SCOTUS decision that effectively elected George W. Bush and the ensuing political and military mayhem, I've begun to become quite alarmed.  I'm actually quite appalled these days by the manipulation of facts called "narratives" that are being used by political and religious bodies to misinform, misshape and in general to leave a steaming pile that the fans of "real Americans" like Sarah Palin don't seem to be able to see around, through or over.

So, it could be that my decision to title this blog the way I did might be more appropriate than I'd anticipated.  So, is lying always lying?  No, I don't think it is.  Take a look at my first installment  and click the links for belief preservation and confirmation bias.  In essence what happens is that people are very reluctant to give up anything they already believe.  And a good deal of what we believe, we get from our parents or our geographical peers.  We become "fans" of what is familiar to us.  And the other?  Well, it becomes "Other."  Denoting undesirable, lesser, them.

The Occupy Wall Street movement or the 99% are attempting to subvert that.  We are being invited to directly participate in a possible future free of the marketing that encourages "fandom."  We're being asked to broaden our ideas of who or what constitute "us."  That in itself is a startling and in my view, refreshing idea.  At the same time, we're being asked to rise up against the moneyed interests and their enforcers comprised of police, military and sycophants nowadays known as "fanboys."

This leaves me with a rather good feeling.  The last time I felt this was when some older students at my high school invited me to join them for conversation and socialization.  I was not a member of their "clique" so it both surprised and flattered me.  I went with them to Kent (of Kent state University fame), sat in a large round booth in a club called the Rathskeller. I listened to conversation about such things as co-ops and communes.  These people were hip.  To call them Hippies would be to miss the point.  They already knew then about Diggers.  I just discovered what Diggers were about a month ago.  Anyway, they eventually all went off to university or became semi-famous musicians and I joined the army.  I wish I could say that I don't know why I did what I did, but I do.  Back then, it was known as the Generation Gap.  My parents and I did not see eye-to-eye on much.  The military offered a way to be independent of them, to survive and to become educated.  So, I elected to pursue that route.  And now, it appears, I've come full circle.  The politicization that began in 1966 and was interrupted by more immediate matters appears to have resumed.

As I learn, I will attempt to chronicle the learning here.  I already have a good start.  I've been studying the history of religion with a focus on Christianity for over a decade.  I'm pretty well read there, and it appears that politics and religion are at the very least kissing cousins.